Rationale
Rationale for Music in the Stage 6 curriculum
The purpose of Music in Years 11 and 12 is to provide students with the opportunity to acquire, develop, extend and refine the knowledge, understanding and skills gained from the Music 7–10 Syllabus (2024). Music in Years 11 and 12 may also be accessed by students who have not studied Music in Years 9 and 10.
Music is an aural art form enabling personal and cultural expression that occupies a significant place in the oral and recorded histories of global cultures. It can define and express identities, shape and communicate values, and convey meaning through sound in diverse ways. Music employs unique symbol systems, which can be used to shape, organise and communicate musical ideas.
Music fosters an appreciation of continuity and change, connecting cultures, times and regions. As students develop a deeper understanding of music, they draw on histories, practices, technologies and personal experiences to perform, create and appreciate music. Students explore and experience Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music, and the diversity of influences and styles in Australian music.
Students engage with Music context and Music language through performing, listening to and composing musical repertoire from ever-widening styles, genres and musical conventions. Engagement with the expressive, cultural and aesthetic value of music enriches students’ musical knowledge and supports them to appreciate music more deeply. Students use creative thinking and expression, and they explore and communicate musical ideas through a range of traditional and contemporary mediums.
Rationale for Music Extension
The Music Extension Syllabus provides students who undertake the Music 2 course with an opportunity to extend their understanding of how musical works are reinterpreted and recontextualised over time. Students deepen their understanding of musical interpretation as a critical and creative process to evaluate how musical meaning emerges from these practices. Students develop their autonomy and skills as an accomplished musician to apply their musical knowledge to engage with the performance of new and existing music, the creation of new music, and musicological investigations.
The Music Extension Syllabus enhances the development of deep knowledge, innovative practice, and critical and reflective thinking skills for students with a desire to pursue a specialised study of Music. The syllabus provides pathways to further study, education, and careers in a range of music related fields, including solo and ensemble performance, conducting, musical direction, composition, musical production, musicological and ethno-musicological research.